1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technology for displaying a screen in an apparatus for obtaining an image from electronic paper or outputting an image to electronic paper.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, resource and energy savings have been demanded from an ecological point of view. Accordingly, a variety of methods are proposed or implemented for the resource and energy savings.
For example, according to conventional technologies, images are outputted to paper through printing. However, a method has recently been proposed and used in which images are outputted so as to be displayed on a portable display such as electronic paper (ePaper) or a tablet PC. This eliminates the need for paper, leading to the saving in paper resources, which in turn saves electric power necessary to manufacture paper. In addition to that, the electronic paper is configured to keep displaying images thereon at very low power consumption. Therefore, the electronic paper can reduce power consumption as compared with a tablet PC.
In the meantime, image forming apparatuses having a variety of functions, such as copying, PC printing, scanning, faxing, and file server, have recently come into widespread use. Such image forming apparatuses are sometimes called “multifunction devices”, “Multi-Functional Peripherals (MFPs)”, or the like. A variety of schemes have recently been applied to image forming apparatus for ecology movement. One of the schemes is the action of coordinating with electronic paper.
The following method is proposed for example. A multifunction device detects the presence or absence of electronic paper in a predetermined area by performing data communication with the electronic paper. In the case where the electronic paper is present in the predetermined area of a document feeder or a paper feeder, the multifunction device starts executing a predetermined mode for processing which involves performing communication with the electronic paper (Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2010-166384).
An image forming apparatus having a configuration to perform varied processes in coordination with electronic paper reduces the need for paper, and also affords convenience to users. As the number of documents becomes larger, paper to be outputted is increased. In the case of electronic paper, however, even if the number of documents becomes larger, the amount of data does not increase as long as the data falls within the capacity of a memory. Further, a user of electronic paper can search for necessary information easily in a large number of documents.
An image forming apparatus is equipped with many functions. Accordingly, various screens are prepared in the image forming apparatus for setting operation and so on. If the image forming apparatus is further equipped with functions implemented by cooperating with electronic paper, the number of screens in the image forming apparatus is more and more increased. The increase in the number of screens forces a user to remember how to perform operations on such screens, which is cumbersome for the user. A developer of the image forming apparatus is also required to design new screens, which is cumbersome for the developer and involves the development costs.